India Club is delighted to host the Singapore Launch of “A Soldier’s General", the autobiography of Gen. JJ Singh, the 24th Chief of the Indian Army and current Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
General JJ Singh was India’s 24th Army Chief, serving from January 2005 to September 2007, including a stint as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in his final year of service. He is a third generation soldier, and his autobiography begins with the stories of his grandfather, a humble sepoy who served with distinction in Iraq and Turkey during WW I, and his father (who rose to be a Colonel in the EME corps). But Gen Singh was also inspired by the heroism of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the martial traditions of Shivaji and the Marathas - having served in the Maratha Light Infantry himself. Commissioned into the Army in 1964, Gen. Singh distinguished himself in anti-insurgency actions in Nagaland soon thereafter, and later served with distinction in Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh (where he now serves as Governor).
During the early 1990s, Gen. Singh commanded a brigade in the Uri-Baramulla sector of the Kashmir Valley, and his brigade had the most success in killing and capturing Pakistan-trained insurgents from JeM, HuM, LeT, etc. Subsequently, during the Kargil War (1999), then-Maj Gen Singh held the key position of Additional Director General Military Operations in Army HQ, and was the public face of the army during that war. Promoted to Lt General, he commanded the 1st Corp, and was GoC-in-C of the Army Training Corps, earning the appellation of a “thinking general", as he played the central role in developing the army’s new doctrine, which was eventually named “Cold Start".
Throughout his years of counter-insurgency actions, Gen. Singh became well-known for his healing touch in winning over civilian communities, and reaching out to ordinary men, women and children in the north-east and Kashmir. His humanism and command of strategic ideas made him the ideal candidate to be Governor of the geopolitically vital state of Arunachal Pradesh, a position he has held since January 2008. His autobiography is a wonderfully told story of an extraordinary soldier who rose to be an exemplary general, and is continuing to serve our country with distinction as governor.